DECORATIVE FLOWER VASE (HANAIRE)

height — 16.5 cm.

A collectible handmade vase by the outstanding master Kato Yoshiaki (1934–2019), who worked under the artistic name Juppo. The piece embodies the quintessential Japanese wabi-sabiWabi-sabi 侘寂 — a key Japanese aesthetic concept that prescribes valuing true beauty in its transience, incompleteness and noble imperfection (asymmetry, traces of time, roughness of texture). aesthetic: an expressive asymmetrical form with a “twisted” modelling of the body. The surface is decorated in the expressive dry-brush stroke technique (hakemeHakeme 刷毛目 — a technique of expressive decoration of a vessel with strokes of white slip applied with a coarse dry brush, which exposes the darker layer of clay beneath.) with a soft gradient from deep earthy browns to shimmering golden-olive tones.

Kato Yoshiaki is a laureate of the International Ceramics Biennale in Vallauris (France), a participant in exhibitions in the USA and a regular prizewinner at Japan’s major national exhibitions (Asahi Togaiten, top awards of the Contemporary Ceramic Design exhibition). From 1976 he ran his own kiln, Myogama, in Tokoname.

Original artist’s wooden box (tomobakoTomobako 共箱 — an authentic box of valuable, seasoned wood (often paulownia), made specially for a particular piece. On the lid the master or owner personally inscribes in ink the calligraphic title of the object, his signature and the impression of a personal seal. It is the principal certificate of authenticity.) with a calligraphic signature, the master’s personal seal and an insert with the artist’s biography.